TEHRAN – More than 495,000 kilograms of different drugs have been discovered in Iran since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), the anti-narcotics police chief said, announcing a 36 percent increase in the drug seizure.

“One of the factors that cause the most damage to the country is the production of industrial and traditional narcotics in Afghanistan, as a result of which we are witnessing an increase in the import of narcotics into the country from the eastern borders and neighboring countries,” Majid Karimi highlighted.

Meanwhile, Amir Abbas Lotfi, the spokesman for the drug control headquarters, has said that being involved in the production of opium, heroin, and morphine for many years, the new challenge for the countries of the region and the world in the fight against narcotics is the increase in production of methamphetamine in Afghanistan over the past two years.

Brigadier General Eskandar Momeni, Secretary-General of Iran Drug Control Headquarters, said that in 2000, the total production of narcotics in Afghanistan was about 200 tons, which in 2017 reached more than 9,000 tons, an increase of nearly 50 times.

Iran’s anti-narcotics measures

Iran seized some 1,000 tons of narcotics in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 20), putting the country in the first place in the world, Momeni said in July.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has praised Iran’s efforts to fight against narcotics trafficking on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The organization also officially announced that the world’s first place in the discovery of opium, heroin, and morphine belongs to Iran.

According to UNODC, Iran remains one of the major transit routes for drug trafficking from Afghanistan to European countries and has had a leading role at the global level in the drug-control campaigns.

UNODC World Drug Report 2020 estimates that in 2018, 91 percent of world opium, 48 percent of the world morphine, and 26 percent of the world heroin were seized by Iran.

Iran’s drug control efforts led to the seizure of 266 tons of different types of drugs during the period of April-June 2020, a 20 percent increase compared to the same period in 2019.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, the drug control headquarters provided and distributed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other sanitary commodities among street users and NGOs working with drug users.

In the end, the anti-narcotic police and law enforcement of Iran held a burning ceremony of 90 tons of different types of drugs in provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, Kerman, and West Azarbaijan, televised through the internet.

After the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), 3,800 were martyred, 12,000 were wounded and disabled in the fight against drug trafficking, Momeni announced.

Drug use is a complex health and social problem worldwide, with half a million people dying each year as a result of drug abuse, he lamented, adding, drug use has entered a critical condition, and the international community is determined to tackle the global drug problem.

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